Braintree Acquisition Questions

Why is PayPal acquiring Braintree?

Please read it in our President’s own words here. You can also get Braintree’s take on it here.

What does the acquisition of Braintree mean for my business?

For PayPal, one of the most important goals behind the acquisition of Braintree is to deepen our commitment to developers and strengthen our ability to provide you with the best tools and best service possible.

There will be no major changes or disruptions—PayPal’s developer team will continue to support you and your business. Our developer team will continue to build upon our existing products and innovate to create new ones.

Our goal is to extend Braintree’s mobile technologies and support team to access the rich capabilities of the PayPal global network and make it easier to create seamless payment solutions that span online, mobile, and in-store experiences.

Do I still go to developer.paypal.com to access PayPal’s APIs, documentation and support?

Yes, developer.paypal.com will continue to be where you can access PayPal’s APIs, documentation and support. If you are interested in learning about the solutions that Braintree offers, please go to braintreepayments.com.

Will Braintree’s APIs replace PayPal’s mobile SDKs?

No, we will continue to support PayPal’s mobile SDKs. There will be no major changes or disruptions—PayPal’s developer team will continue to support you and your business.

Will Braintree’s APIs be available on developer.paypal.com?

If you are interested in learning about the solutions that Braintree offers, please go to braintreepayments.com. Over time, we will figure out the best way for PayPal developers to access Braintree’s APIs. Watch this space.

General Developer Questions

What’s new for developers?

Our updated site gives developers a single location to find the tools, documentation, and resources they need to build innovative applications.

REST APIs: We’ve added REST APIs built on modern, standards-based technologies such as OAuth and JSON.

What are PayPal’s fees?

Fees vary per country. For Purchase Payments (which include payments processed using the REST APIs or PayPal Mobile SDK), PayPal U.S. charges 2.9% or less, plus $0.30 per transaction. There are no setup fees and no cancellation fees, and volume discounts are available. Also note that your customers are not charged when they use use PayPal as a payment method. For more details, see PayPal fees.

I’ve started receiving payments. When can I withdraw funds from my PayPal account?

US Accounts: When you accept payments using Mobile SDKs and REST APIs, the first $5,000 that you accept within any 7-day period will go directly into the available balance of your PayPal account. Additional card payments are available in 7 days.

Why are certain payments delayed?

Payments are delayed to help ensure a safe environment for both buyers and sellers. There’s a slightly higher risk associated with manually-entered payments because the cardholder and the card don’t necessarily have to be there for the transaction to take place. We want to make sure that you have money in your account to cover any payment reversals.

Do I have to worry about PCI compliance?

All merchants and developers who process, transmit or store cardholder data should comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS). All PayPal hosted payment solutions are PCI compliant so using them makes reporting easier.

If you use our REST APIs for direct card processing, you need to validate your own site against PCI-DSS. There are times when we may ask you to show your PCI compliance.

If you use our PayPal Mobile SDK for direct card processing, you should follow PCI Mobile Payment Acceptance Security Guidelines.

How do I get my money?

Make sure you add your bank account to your PayPal Business account. Money from your transactions can be added or removed from the bank account associated with your PayPal account.

When is my money available?

You can quickly access the first $5000 of card payments that you process in a 7-day period. Additional card payments will be available after 7 days.

Can I retrieve the history of transactions created using the Classic APIs using the REST API?

Currently, the REST APIs can be used to get history of only those transactions that were created using the REST APIs. Use the Classic TransactionSearch API operation to retrieve a history of the transactions that were created using the Classic APIs and JavaScript Buttons.

I’m a non-U.S. developer. What products are available to me?

The REST API supports a number of countries and currencies. The REST API provides simple payment processing for common business needs, including PayPal payments, direct credit card payments, authorization and capture, and refunds. For more advanced payment solutions such as parallel and recurring payments, you can use the Classic APIs.

If you’ve previously used our Classic APIs, you can continue to use them. Using you old Sandbox email address and password, you can import existing Sandbox accounts on the Sandbox Accounts page.

Sandbox Questions

I’m already using PayPal APIs in the old version of the Sandbox. How does the site redesign affect me?

Create a PayPal account if you don’t already have one. If you’re happy with your integration with PayPal, nothing has to change. You can import your existing Sandbox test accounts and continue using Classic APIs.

You can start using the new REST APIs any time. As we add more REST APIs, we’ll provide migration tools and documentation to help you make the most of them.

Where are my old Sandbox test accounts?

We have your existing Sandbox accounts. Once you log in, you can import them on the Sandbox Accounts page by using your old Sandbox login email and password.

Keep in mind that you can only import test accounts once to a single PayPal account. Make sure you import to the PayPal account that you want
to use for development.

Do I use the old credit card test numbers for testing in the Sandbox?

When you create a new Sandbox test account, you can configure the account with a mock DISCOVER®, VISA®, American Express®, or MasterCard® credit card (you can also create a test account without a credit card). Navigate to the Funding tab on the test account’s Profile page to obtain the credit card number to use while testing. Configure separate test accounts to cover each of the credit cards you need to process.

Do I need to log in to the PayPal Developer website in order to access my test accounts on the Sandbox site?

No, you do not need to first log in to the Developer site in order to log in to the Sandbox site. We have updated the Sandbox site so it no longer has a session dependency on the Developer website. Because of this, you can log in to the Sandbox site using the login credentials from your Sandbox test accounts without first being logged into the Developer website.

Why do I not see the test accounts I create on the Sandbox site in my Developer website account?

If you manually create a test account using the sign-up flow on the Sandbox site, without first logging in to the Developer website, the test account you create on the Sandbox site will not be linked to any Developer website account. To link test accounts created on the Sandbox site with a Developer website account, you need to be logged in to the Developer website before you manually create test accounts on the Sandbox site.

We recommend you register on the Developer website and create your Sandbox test accounts through the Create Account tool on the Developer website. Once you’ve created your Sandbox test accounts, log into the Sandbox site and manage your test accounts using the login credentials you assigned to your Sandbox test accounts. You can create new test accounts on the Developer website using the Create Account tool, as described in Creating Sandbox test accounts.

Note: The Developer website does not support the creation of pre-configured test accounts for all countries. In these cases, first create a developer account and log in to the Developer website, then create Sandbox test accounts by manually creating them through the Sandbox site. The new Sandbox test accounts will then be linked to your Developer website account.

REST API Questions

Should I pass empty strings for optional values?

If you don’t want to pass fields that are optional, your handler should not pass empty strings ("").

I’m already using PayPal APIs in the old version of the Sandbox. Do I need to use the new APIs?

Create a PayPal account if you don’t already have one. If you’re happy with your integration with PayPal, nothing has to change. You can import your existing Sandbox test accounts and continue using Classic APIs.

You can start using the new REST APIs any time. As we add more REST APIs, we’ll provide migration tools and documentation to help you make the most of them.

I’m getting errors while using the REST APIs. What do I do?

What is the difference between an order authorization/capture and payments authorization/capture?

The order authorization/capture is only supported for PayPal members. It is used in scenarios such as: a merchant might ship items from multiple distribution centers and need separate authorizations for each shipment, or the shipping is delayed on some items that are not currently in stock. When a credit card is not stored for charging as the items become available, the order authorization/capture can be used instead. An order indicates that the buyer has consented to the purchase, authorization places funds on hold until you are ready to capture, and capture can partially or fully collect the payment.

In the payments authorization/capture, authorization places the funds on hold and then the payment is captured at a later time. In this case, there is only a need for delayed settlement.

Integration details - more detailed integration information to help developers integrate Log In with PayPal

Best practices - best practices to optimize the consumer experience and simplify your integration

How can I get credentials?

You can get Log In with PayPal credentials as long as you have a PayPal account in your country. To get Log In with PayPal credentials, create an application on the Applications tab on developer.paypal.com. Formerly, credentials were obtained at devportal.x.com. If you had an application at devportal.x.com, and had credentials for that application, your application and credentials have been migrated to the Applications tab on developer.paypal.com. The credentials will continue to work and your apps will continue to work.

Why do I need to use two different domains?

Some Log In with PayPal calls are made to www.paypal.com and others are sent to api.paypal.com. Browser calls (authorize and endsession) come to paypal.com and backend calls (tokenservice and userinfo) come to api.paypal.com.

If I integrated before and registered on devportal.x.com, will my application continue to work?

Yes, your application will continue to work. Although you now need to manage your application on the Applications tab on developer.paypal.com, the credentials and endpoints continue to work. You do not need to change anything.

What protocols are supported?

We recommend that new apps integrate with OpenID Connect. For developers that integrated with OpenID, the apps will continue to work, but no new features will be added.

Is Sandbox available for testing?

Yes! Make sure that you have Log in with PayPal enabled when you create your Sandbox account. For more information on creating Sandbox accounts, refer to our testing guide.

How do I enable Seamless checkout?

Please see the Seamless Checkout integration guide. When you create an OpenID Connect app, you can
enable seamless checkout by selecting the Seamless Checkout box.

Will Seamless Checkout work with OpenID?

No, the Seamless Checkout scope is only available with OpenID Connect.

What is the OpenID Connect scope mapping used for registered attributes?

OpenID Connect scopes are the attribute and API permissions that are used during OpenID Connect authorize call.

Can I use the new mobile SDKs outside of the US?

Is there a way to get a payment identifier into the transaction?

Not at the moment. This functionality is scheduled to be implemented in the underlying REST API platform in early 2014, and the feature will then be integrated into the SDKs.

Is there a way to get the payment description string to show up in the transaction details on PayPal.com?

No, this is not supported functionality.

Will the new SDKs have feature parity with the older SDKs that are based on Adaptive Payments?

We are aggressively moving payment functionality into our REST API architecture. This will include payment features you now see in Adaptive Payments, and more. The mobile SDKs will pick up these features as they roll out.

Where is the Mobile Express Checkout Library (MECL)?

The Mobile Express Checkout Library for iOS and Android has been discontinued. We recommend using the new PayPal iOS SDK and Paypal Android SDK instead. For developers with existing Express Checkout integrations or developers who want additional features such as authorization and capture, we recommend Mobile Express Checkout.

Does the new mobile SDK support the transfer of money directly from one PayPal account to another?

Currently, the new mobile SDK does not support that use case. Rather,
the new mobile SDK supports the case where the merchant/developer accepts money from the end user.